Out of the Crisis.Org

[Louis Altazan]

Deming often said, “The most important figures in business are unknown and unknowable.” By this he did not mean figures were unimportant. By profession Dr. Deming was a statistician and worked with numbers all of his life. What he meant was, actions often must be guided by theory. Many times results may only be inferred by observation over time.

A practical example might be marketing. If we wish to increase sales we may take a certain action. Sales may or may not immediately increase. If they do, we can still not always be assured our action were the cause. They may have increased with no action at all, we cannot count the non-occurrences. More to my point they may not seem to increase at all. This again does not mean our action was wasted. The improvement may simply not be able to be measured in short-term.

For instance many years ago, I started a business that supplied used wheels to the collision industry. To promote this I tried a PDSA. My theory was if I could associate my name with wheels in the minds of the insurance appraisers, they would be more likely to recommend my service to body shops. My Plan was to put something on their desk, that they might keep and that had my name and number on it. I had desk clocks made [do], with a picture of a bent wheel and our phone number. I distributed the clocks and waited for the results.

Results were disappointing, no big influx of sales. Yet over time the results were a bit different. Sales slowly increased [study] and continued to increase at a slow rate. Not one person ever said they called because of the desk clock. My theory is, the clock did a great job. It created a top of mind awareness, that later resulted in sales. I sold the business years ago, but get calls till this day. I have continued to use similar methods [act] with good results over time.

Another example might be a business sign. On a well traveled road thousands of people may see it daily. People see it hundreds of times over the years. It tends to blend into the thousands of other images people see but also may leave a subconscious impression. The sign may seem to result in no sales.

I believe people are far more likely to do business with a business with which they are familiar. While the sign may seem to fail to bring them in, it plays an important role. Later they have a car problem get a referral to you from a friend. [Eureka!] I’ve heard of them before. The person may never realize the sign is the impression they remember. If the shop tracks results, the sale goes down as a referral. Actually the referral may have meant little without the “top of mind awareness” that the sign created. The business grows, sales increase but the sign may never get the “credit.”

The theory might be, I can increase awareness of my business with a nice sign. Over time results can be measured, but never directly related to the sign. We can’t say for certain what would have happened had we had no sign at all. We are guided by theory. Many things are like this. A kind word, taking extra time with clients, a positive attitude, a clean shop and on and on. It is difficult, if not impossible to directly measure the results. These things make other marketing seem more effective. The opposite is true as well, a lack of such factors may make other marketing seem ineffective. Some of the most important things in business truly have no figures.

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Louis Altazan
Owner/Manager AGCO Automotive Corporation
Baton Rouge, LA

[Jeff S]

Business and life are holistic. It's not one thing you do that achieves the results you get. It's everything. IMHO.

People also have a problem with the word "assume" or "assumptions". We all know the acronym asigned to the word and the act of assuming has become something to disdain or discourage. I like assumptions. Assumptions are made everyday and all the time, people just don't know what they have assumed. The trick is to know what your assuming.

I believe this goes hand in hand with your topic.

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Jeff Speed
HQ Automotive
Lathrop MO
http://hqautomotive.com

[Louis Altazan]

Hi Jeff,